The Immortal Clan begins with deductive intelligence.

With this low shout, the long-awaited blue light from Xu Changqing's fingertip shot out instantly.

"laugh!"

Liu Sandao, standing on the bow of the boat, felt a sudden twitch between his brows—an instinct honed through years of licking blood from the edge of a knife.

He didn't have time to think. He instinctively held the long sword horizontally in front of him, frantically pouring his spiritual power into the blade.

"when!"

A crisp sound.

Ling Shu stabbed against the blade of the thick-backed ring-handled sword, slicing Liu Sandao's cheek.

Li Shan, who had been lying in ambush, shouted, "Black Wind Stronghold is on official business! All irrelevant personnel, get out of the way!"

There were many figures in the reeds on both sides of the river. Five or six men wearing straw raincoats were brandishing knives, spears and clubs, shouting and rushing towards the river. They made quite a show of force.

Li Shan shouted enthusiastically, and his hands were not idle either. He threw several ice spikes at the two henchmen at the stern of the ship without regard for anything else.

Those two members of the Zhang family were only at the fourth level of Qi Refining, and they were used to throwing their weight around with the family's merchant caravan.

They had never seen such a reckless attack from the start. They were caught off guard by the icicles raining down on them and could only cower behind the ship's side, desperately trying to hold on.

But Liu Sandao was a ruthless character who had seen a lot. Although he was caught off guard by the sudden attack, he was only slightly stunned before calming down.

He roared, and a bright flash of light ripped through the night sky.

Xu Changqing dodged the blade's energy with a swift movement, then leaped out from behind the black rock. Without even entering the water, he stepped onto a floating reef that was exposed on the surface of the water, using it to propel himself into the air and rush straight towards the bow of the ship.

"Qi Refining Level 5?!"

Liu Sandao's slash missed its mark. Looking at the masked man in black before him, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

He knew all the bandit leaders within a hundred miles. When did this guy suddenly appear?

"You cowardly rat hiding your head and tail! Die!"

Seeing Xu Changqing rushing towards him, Liu Sandao did not retreat, but instead wielded his long sword with wide, sweeping movements.

Each slash was faster than the last, aimed directly at Xu Changqing's neck and groin—vital points.

Xu Changqing was unable to maneuver properly on the cramped deck and had to retreat repeatedly, only able to barely parry with the ordinary fine iron sword in his hand.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Sparks flew everywhere.

With a roar, Liu Sandao wielded his sword with both hands and brought it down heavily on Xu Changqing.

This blow was unavoidable.

"when!"

The iron sword snapped in two.

"Is this all the skill you've got to dare rob the Zhang family?"

Liu Sandao grinned maliciously.

He could tell that although the masked man in front of him was not weak, his skills were very clumsy.

"I'll skin you alive today and make you into lanterns!"

Liu Sandao gave Xu Changqing no chance to catch his breath. He held the knife in one hand and drew a crescent-shaped, pale blade of light in mid-air.

The strike was powerful and heavy, carrying with it the surrounding moisture and making a whooshing sound.

"not good!"

Xu Changqing gathered his spiritual energy in front of him.

"Click."

The spiritual energy shattered into fragments after only a moment under Liu Sandao's furious attack.

The remaining blade energy grazed Xu Changqing's chest, tearing his robe and leaving a stinging bloodstain.

Using the force of the impact, Xu Changqing landed awkwardly on the deck at the stern of the ship.

"Go to hell!"

He reached into his robes with his right hand, and a talisman covered in crimson runes appeared at his fingertips.

That was a mid-grade first-tier fire serpent talisman seized from Xu Sanshun.

Xu Changqing let out a low shout, and his spiritual power surged into the talisman.

"boom!"

The talisman instantly burned out, transforming into a two-zhang-long (approximately 6.6 meters) fiery serpent, baring its fangs and claws, carrying scorching heat, and rushing straight at Liu Sandao's face.

At such close range, Liu Sandao had no way to avoid it.

The flames instantly engulfed Liu Sandao, who slammed into the cabin, causing half of the awning to collapse.

Xu Changqing slumped to the ground, panting heavily.

This talisman is worth a lot of spirit stones, which is really heartbreaking.

But before the flames could even dissipate...

"Cough cough... cough cough..."

A violent coughing sound came from the ruined cabin.

Liu Sandao stood up unsteadily.

He was no longer the imposing figure he once was.

His hair and eyebrows were all burned off, his face was covered in blisters, and the leather armor he wore was charred black and still emitting smoke.

But he was still alive, and his murderous aura only intensified.

"Good...very good..."

Liu Sandao forced out a sound from his throat, still gripping the large ring-handled sword tightly in his hand.

"You little beast! I'm going to skin you alive!"

He walked towards Xu Changqing step by step, and with each step, the knife dragged across the deck with a screeching sound.

Xu Dayou was dumbfounded.

How come they're still alive?

That's way too hard!

Xu Changqing leaned against the ship's railing, his hands empty.

But as he looked at Liu Sandao approaching, a slight smile appeared on his face.

"How can you still laugh when you're about to die?"

Liu Sandao raised his knife, intending to slowly chop off the boy's limbs to feed the fish.

however.

Just as he raised his arm halfway up.

A sharp pain erupted from his chest without warning, and then it felt as if his heart had been crushed by an invisible hand.

The spiritual power that had been gathered in his hand instantly dissipated.

"Wow!"

Liu Sandao opened his mouth and spat out a large mouthful of black, foul-smelling blood, splattering all over Xu Changqing.

"Clang!"

The large ring-shaped sword slipped from his hand and slammed heavily onto the deck.

Liu Sandao clutched his chest tightly with both hands.

"You...poison..."

Liu Sandao swayed and then knelt down in front of Xu Changqing with a thud.

Only now did he realize that an extremely domineering and chilling poisonous aura had already invaded his heart meridian through those inconspicuous wounds.

Liu Sandao let out a final, indistinct whine, and his body, as if his bones had been removed, collapsed limply in front of Xu Changqing.

Xu Changqing raised his hand to wipe the black blood off his face and shook his hand away in disgust.

From the very first move of their exchange, his spiritual energy, transformed into a spirit piercing dagger, already contained the remaining half-bottle of the Corrosive Spirit Vine venom.

"The... the chief is dead?"

Xu Dayou stared at Liu Sandao's charred, mangled body on the ground and swallowed hard.

"Completely dead."

Xu Changqing had no time for sentimentality. He stepped forward and flicked the charred corpse in the waist with his toe.

A dusty gray storage bag flew up and landed in his hand.

The quality of Liu Sandao's storage bag alone is several levels better than the one Xu Changqing is wearing on his waist.

"Don't just stand there! Put out the fire!"

Xu Changqing stuffed the storage bag into his clothes and suddenly turned to look at the still burning awning boat.

That cabin contained eight hundred spirit stones and spiritual materials. If it were burned to ashes by this fire, all the risks we took tonight would have been for nothing.

Xu Dayou seemed to wake from a dream, and let out a strange cry:

"My spirit stone!"

After a flurry of activity, the two finally managed to extinguish the fire.

Half of the cabin had been burned away, revealing several black camphor wood chests inside. Although the surfaces were blackened, they still looked relatively intact.

Xu Changqing let out a long sigh of relief, only then realizing that his whole body was sore. He had been risking his life with his head hanging off his belt, and now that the tension had eased, even his Qi Refining Level 5 physique couldn't withstand the feeling of exhaustion.

"Black Shark, go and bring the box down."

Xu Changqing gave an order, but his gaze turned to the other side.

The shouts of battle continued in the rocky beach, but they sounded a bit... chaotic.

"The Li family is a bunch of good-for-nothings."

Xu Changqing frowned.

Five against two, and both attacks were sneak attacks, yet they still haven't taken them down.